


Can’t Hide From It

by deathishauntedbyhumans



Series: Coming Around [3]
Category: The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
Genre: Cuddling & Snuggling, First Kiss, Gay Panic, Literal Sleeping Together, M/M, Miscommunication, Pre-Calamity Ganon, Rito Kissing, Selectively Mute Link (Legend of Zelda), Wordcount: 1.000-3.000, no beta we die like men
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-25
Updated: 2020-11-25
Packaged: 2021-03-09 23:20:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,652
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27704048
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/deathishauntedbyhumans/pseuds/deathishauntedbyhumans
Summary: Revali does some more reflecting, and realises that he might justlikeLink.
Relationships: Link/Revali (Legend of Zelda)
Series: Coming Around [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1632586
Comments: 9
Kudos: 263





	Can’t Hide From It

_ You know, you can only tell yourself that this doesn’t change anything so many times before you start to sound like a broken record,  _ Link signs. The bemused look on his face doesn’t shift, not even when Revali’s feathers ruffle in the consternation of being called out so plainly. If anything, it only serves to make Link look more  _ amused  _ than anything else. 

“I’ve never heard of someone who doesn’t speak that still manages to be this annoying until I met you,” Revali bites back at him. The effect of the harsh tone is softened somewhat by the fact that Link is currently curled up in the loose embrace of his wings, and that Revali hardly raises his voice above a murmur to snap at him. 

They’ve been doing this for weeks now, sleeping beside one another inside the comforting warmth of Revali’s tent (they might have begun this affair in Link’s, but Revali is well-aware that his own Rito-made tent is larger to accommodate his size, and had absolutely insisted upon it after the first few nights, when it had become obvious that Link wasn’t just going to let this go) and waking up at Revali’s normal hour together, warm and calm in the dim light of the morning. Link hasn’t bothered to set up his own tent at the last three campsites they’ve made, claiming easily that it was full of bugs and that he was going to share Revali’s from then on. 

Revali had put on a show and protested weakly, which had only made the ribbing from Daruk that much worse. Urbosa had joined in, but there had been a knowing glint in her steely gaze that had ruffled Revali’s feathers the wrong way. 

After all, there isn’t anything  _ happening  _ between him and Link! There was no conceivable reason for Urbosa to smirk at him like that when everyone else had gotten busy again elsewhere. 

It makes Revali  _ nervous _ , although he would never admit such a stupid thing about himself aloud. 

_ Mean,  _ Link signs at him, and then flips him off while snuggling more securely into Revali’s feathers. Revali tries to summon the energy to be the proper amount offended, he really does. It’s been a long few weeks, though, and he’s more exhausted than he cares to admit. He has half a mind to try and fall back asleep instead of going for his morning flight, something he’s done only a handful of times since this whole…  _ thing  _ between himself and Link had begun. 

He cannot deny that he is  _ comfortable  _ like this with Link _ ,  _ although just that makes him feel on-edge to admit to, even if it’s just in his own head. 

Sleep has nearly claimed him again when Link shifts once more, drawing Revali back into the realm of wakefulness. He frowns, but before he can complain about Hylians and their habit of moving about constantly, Link sits half-up and signs at him. 

_ I want to try something.  _

Grumpily, Revali huffs out a breath and sits up as well. “Did you have to wake me up again for it?” he snips, despite the fact that he should probably be getting up anyways. 

Link, as usual, ignores his sour mood. He’s gotten even better at that since this whole…  _ thing  _ started. If Revali had to guess, he would assume that it’s easier for Link to understand that it’s just a defence mechanism, that he doesn’t really mean what he says most of the time. 

Or… something. 

Link nods his head once — _ yes—  _ and then holds up a hand.  _ Don’t move.  _

“Fine, fine. Get on with it,” Revali says, shooting for lofty and missing it by several paces. His voice lands somewhere in trepidation, instead, but he doesn’t think he can be blamed. After all, they’re alone in his tent, and Link wants to  _ try something.  _

The last time Link had  _ tried something,  _ they’d begun sleeping in the same tent together in the first place. 

_ Don’t move,  _ Link signs again more fervently. Revali huffs again. 

“I’m not moving, Link,” he says, rolling the ‘L’ just slightly, the sound as strange as it always feels on his tongue. “What are you—?”

But Link is leaning forward, towards him, and Revali finds himself suddenly at a loss for words. True to his word, he doesn’t move, but his breathing halts suddenly as Link presses their foreheads together, his nose gently touching the tip of Revali’s beak. 

He holds the position for a long moment, long enough for Revali to cycle through several heady emotions, before he pulls away again with a soft smile on his face. It’s one of the goofy ones, one of the smiles that he seems to reserve especially for these soft mornings when neither of them want to leave their bedrolls. But this time, Revali can’t even think about returning it. 

“What the  _ fuck  _ was that?” 

The smile falters a little, but Link doesn’t look too put-out by Revali’s sudden anger. He signs Revali’s name, but Revali shoves at his hands, interrupting him forcefully. 

“You just— how dare you— that was—“

_ Nice?  _ Link supplies, after successfully tugging his hands away from Revali.  _ Revali,  _ he signs again.  _ I wanted to— _

“You wanted to _ try something! _ ” Revali can barely remember to keep his voice down, he’s so worked up. “Oh, isn’t that wonderful! Do you know what you just did? You just—“ He makes a noise of frustration, because he can’t even bear to say aloud what has just transpired between them. “I need to get up. I need to leave. Now.”

Link’s hands fly to his wings, trying to grab at him, to stop him, but Revali is more determined. He pushes Link’s hands away with only minor difficulty and shoves himself out of the tent, ignoring Link’s stumbling footfalls behind him. Before Link can catch up with him, he takes flight, allowing the cool morning air rush to greet him as he lets his gale pull him up into the air.

* * *

Revali spends the entire flight trying to regulate his breathing. 

It isn’t  _ fair,  _ he wants to whine, though who he would whine  _ to  _ in this instance, he has no idea. It isn’t  _ fair  _ that, just when he’s beginning to navigate his relationship with Link a little easier, Link throws another wrench into his plans. 

Because really,  _ kissing him?  _ This is a new low, even for a Hylian. 

And he knows that Hylians don’t kiss the way Rito do. So there is a small chance, a  _ very  _ small chance, that Link has no idea about the gravity of the action that he’s just performed. But Link is a well-travelled, well-versed Hylian. He’s the princess’s appointed knight, for crying out loud! He should absolutely  _ know  _ what a kiss looks like for a Rito, especially given that he’s been  _ sleeping with one _ for weeks now! 

Not that they’ve been  _ sleeping together,  _ they’ve only been  _ sleeping  _ together! There is a  _ difference!  _

Damn this whole situation, Revali thinks angrily, and damn Link for making him think things like that to begin with. After all, it’s not like he wants to  _ sleep with  _ Link! He barely wants to sleep beside him! 

...Where was he? He’s pretty sure that he didn’t begin this flight thinking about doing utterly unspeakable things with the Hylian Champion. 

Ah, right. Kissing Link. Or rather,  _ Link  _ kissing  _ him.  _ Utterly unspeakable in its own right, but not quite as bad as…  _ right.  _

“I can’t believe him,” Revali says aloud, the wind whipping the words from his mouth the second they leave his beak. It feels good to get them out of his head, though, even if nobody else can hear them. “He forces me —forces me!— to allow him into my tent, and then up and decides to  _ kiss me  _ without even— without even considering my feelings!” 

Unbidden, Urbosa’s voice sounds in his head, as steely as ever.  _ And what are those feelings, hm?  _

Revali sights a snowy peak to the right of him, and makes a beeline for it. He needs to go somewhere he can  _ think.  _

“I don’t have any feelings,” he snaps. Off-balance, he lands in the snow, narrowly avoiding pitching forward. “Not for Link. Not— Not about him.” He makes a rather undignified squawk that he’s perfectly glad nobody is around to hear and rights himself again, his wings spread out momentarily to catch himself. “And if I did—“ he continues, a little out of breath. “What would it matter? Everyone knows that he and Princess Zelda—“

The sound of loud guffawing rings in his ears, a perfect likeness of Daruk’s raucous laughter.  _ Come on, Revali. We’ve all seen the way the little guy looks at you.  _

“Link doesn’t look at me any way,” Revali protests, but it’s weak, and he knows it. After all, he is more than well-aware that he’s arguing with his own subconscious. “Shut up, both of you. I can’t— I can’t handle this.” 

Comforted by the dissonant cold seeping through his feathers, Revali sinks down to the ground. He shuts his eyes tightly, doing his best to block out the image of Link leaning towards him that seems to be emblazoned on the backs of his eyelids. How  _ dare  _ Link be so bold? 

How  _ dare  _ Link continue to be the one to make the first move? 

The thought should scare Revali, and on some level, he supposes it does. It mostly annoys him, though, because he  _ knows  _ it’s an admittance of a failure on his part to communicate to Link the true extent of the...  _ feelings  _ that have been developing steadily for him. 

No wonder Link has to continually be the one to make the first move. 

Revali opens his eyes again and squints, momentarily, against the sudden brightness of the sun hitting the snow in front of him. He must have been flying for longer than he meant to, if the sun is coming up now. 

“What am I going to do?” he murmurs to himself, drawing absently in the snow with one of his talons. Because as much as he hates —oh, as much as he absolutely  _ loathes—  _ to admit it, he  _ does  _ have feelings for Link. The ridiculous Hylian has somehow wormed his way under Revali’s skin and into his heart, and it frightens him to admit as much. It’s weak of him to have  _ feelings  _ for Link, even if they just might be reciprocated. (He can’t think of any other reason for Link to  _ kiss  _ him short of perhaps making fun of him, but he doesn’t believe for a second that Link is cruel enough to play such a prank.) The panic that had clawed its way into his stomach has abated, leaving him exasperatingly bone-tired and absolutely dreading the flight back to camp. 

And he feels no more prepared to deal with Link — _ or  _ his pesky feelings— than he had upon leaving him in such a hurry. 

Perhaps, though… Perhaps it’s time he finally owns up to his actions. Link is pesky, and annoying, and immature for a knight of his stature at times, but that doesn’t mean that he doesn’t feel. Revali has seen proof of that; he’s  _ heard  _ proof of that. And leaving him in a flurry after he’d kissed him probably isn’t going to do anything for his morale. And on top of that… Revali is  _ tired.  _ Tired of pretending that he doesn’t care for Link when he cares too much about him to put into words, tired of putting up an untouchable front that Link always manages to push through anyways, tired of fighting with him every moment of every day. That doesn’t mean that he’ll stop fighting, he muses wryly to himself, but it  _ does  _ mean that he’s ready to at least attempt to clear the air between them before starting any more petty arguments. 

And that means he needs to speak to Link. 

* * *

The flight back to camp is grim. It’s boring, all things considered, but there’s an air about him he knows he doesn’t quite shake by the time he reaches the rest of the group. Everyone is up and about by the time he gets back; he earns a light scolding from Urbosa about leaving for so long without warning anyone, and a ribbing from Daruk about doing the same. Mipha and Zelda pay him no mind, their heads bent over a scrap of parchment that he presumes is a map to their next move. And Link… 

Link greets him like nothing is wrong, although there’s a look in his eye that makes Revali’s heart squeeze. 

The day passes slowly enough that Revali has to wonder if someone is messing with them. It feels like an age passes before they pack up camp and get moving, but it’s only just noon when they finally leave the area. They’re on their way to a series of guardians dug up by a young adventurer, Zelda tells them, but they don’t make it before nightfall. When they set up camp again, Revali catches Link’s eye and gives a slight nod to his own tent. Fear flashes in Link’s eyes, but he nods once regardless. 

Finally, they all part ways for the night, and Link silently follows Revali to their tent. Revali is tense as he opens the flap and gestures for Link to enter, and Link hesitates before he slips inside. 

All in all, Revali knows he messed up. Badly. 

“Link,” Revali says softly the moment he closes the tent. “We need to talk.” He turns around to find Link as far away from Revali as he can be, avoiding eye contact. “Link…”

_ I’m sorry,  _ Link signs without looking up.  _ I shouldn’t have—  _

Revali steps forward and takes Link’s hands in his own, effectively stopping his apology. Link jolts a little, but doesn’t pull his hands away or look up. “Look at me, Link.”

“Revali…” Link rasps. It’s painful-sounding enough that Reval releases Link’s hands only to place the tip of his wing over Link’s mouth. 

“Shh,” Revali says. “Let me… I need to get this out.” Slowly, Link raises his head to meet Revali’s gaze, his big eyes clouded with doubt.

“I shouldn’t have run away this morning. You’re not the one…” Revali huffs, frustration ruffling his feathers. “You aren’t the one who needs to apologise. I just… I was  _ scared,  _ alright? You’re always confident about the things that you do, and some of us are only confident in action, not in feelings.” 

Hope blooms in Link’s eyes, so quickly that Revali nearly wants to look away. It’s like the sun rising in the morning after a long, cold night; it’s beautiful. 

_ You don’t hate me,  _ Link signs. The tension in his shoulders dissipates immediately, and he reaches out like he’s been trying to stop himself since they’d walked into the tent, grabbing at Revali until he sinks down onto the bedroll with him. 

“No,” Revali says, with a puff of laughter attached to it. “Somehow, I don’t hate you.”

_ So if I were to do what I did this morning again…?  _

Revali swallows. “I would… not be entirely opposed to it.”

Link grins like a child, carefree and wild.  _ I’ll keep that in mind.  _ He pauses, and then cocks his head to the side.  _ Did I do it right?  _

Settling down easily, Revali only hesitates for a second before pulling a willing Link into his arms. “Yes, you did, you idiot. I know you know what you were doing.”

Link makes a humming sort of sound in the back of his throat that must come from a place where he wasn’t injured, and snuggles into Revali’s feathers. 

They fall asleep like that, and in the morning, they awaken together at Revali’s normal time. And when Link leans forward to rest his nose against Revali’s beak, Revali responds by tilting his head down slowly to let their foreheads touch, and he doesn’t say a thing about it. 

  
  


**Author's Note:**

> Link is technically selectively mute because he sustained an injury to his throat that left it severely painful to speak. 
> 
> Kudos/comments are love! Come scream at me on tumblr @deathishauntedbyhumans.


End file.
